Home Care Assistance opens facility with expanded services

For five years, Home Care Assistance has worked to keep La Jolla’s older adults living happily and healthfully in their own homes by providing them with quality caregivers. Now the company’s recent move to 7521 Fay St. will enable them to provide even more services for the La Jolla community.

“We’ve always helped clients with all the basic daily living activities like housekeeping, meal preparation, transportation and personal care, such as bathing and dressing,” said Jennifer Muskat, regional director of client services. “But our new 2000-square-foot facility is now offering a healthy cooking class for caregivers, a silver age yoga class for seniors, and Chair Chi (a seated version of Tai Chi) for a nominal fee.”

According to Muskat, Home Care Assistance has 70 offices across the country, and the La Jolla office is the first to offer these classes to give back to the community.

To determine a client’s needs, Muskrat visits their home to meet with an adult child seeking help with an aging parent. While there, she assesses the client’s needs to determine what level of skilled caregiver is necessary.

Muskat said a typical client is aged 80 through the early 100s, and their needs range widely from simply basic companionship to transportation, cooking, and light housekeeping. Some need round-the-clock care for a medical issue. “If a client’s case becomes medically complex, we bring in a geriatric care manager to handle that aspect of the case,” Muskat said.

Home Care Assistance has approximately 240 caregivers, but they’re always seeking qualified candidates. “We’re very particular, though, and really take a lot of time doing background checks, checking references, and training potential caregivers before we hire anyone,” Muskat said. “Of 35 applicants, we may only choose one.”